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Personal but not private

UK Postal Service Violation and what to do about it

Concrete Examples of my snailmail post 'going missing'

February 2005: In case anyone thought the UK was a free country - think again. Special Branch, MI5 and/or criminal/MAFIA agencies are delving in to my private mail again. I've had several cases recently:

Symptom: getting very little post on a Monday - important letters being delayed until Tuesday. Cause: the postal interception people only work weekdays so Saturday post gets held over until they come into work on Monday for them to go through my post (I was told this by word of mouth - SNM)

Symptom: politically/spiritually sensitive post is delayed several days if it is time critical once the deadline is past it arrives. (I have noticed this happening more regularly recently)

Symptom: post is delayed indefinately until you complain and let the post office or someone by telephone or email (which is monitored) know you haven't recieved it - then it arrives.

Remember: the first rule of surveillance is not letting the 'target' know that he or she is under surveillance! So if yopu're a serious problem to them the gestapo elements (MI5/special branch/criminals) will probably do everything to keep their operation secret.  Unless they're trying to intimidate you... in which case it will be clicks and echoes on the phone line and important stuff like bank statements not arriving in the post.

How disgusting that in 21st Century Britain this page should be happening again. My grandparents generation endured terrible hardships, including the loss of many loved ones in World War II, because they believed this kind of secret police activity was evil enough to risk their lives for. Yet in 21st Century Britain there is a resurgence in Secret Police Activities.

If you re having this kind of problem - join human rights campaign Liberty and let me and them KNOW about it. We must stamp out these miserable, sad people's evil menace to democracy. Which many of them may be getting paid to do with OUR money!

The Guardian's 'Big Brother' surveillance special http://www.guardian.co.uk/bigbrother/privacy/

Concrete Examples of my snailmail post 'going missing'

One of the current tactics of whoever is stealing my post is to steal a letter which might be insignificant or I might miss. These letters generally tend to come from people I don't see very often so - supposedly - I might not get the opportunity to ask them whether or not they acually sent me the item in question.  Only recently have I been keeping records of exactly WHAT has gone missing or been delayed and WHEN.

MI5, or whoever might have got the Home Secretary to sign a piece of paper saying 'Tony Gosling is a subversive', may be trying to protect themselves with the option of 'deniability'. What often seems to happen is if I mention on the telephone that 'such-and-such a letter or parcel has not arrived' it turns up the next day.  What they seem to be doing is preying on peoples' (in this case my) forgetfulness.

Postal Violation Log - begun November 2001

1. November 2001 - Copy of 'The Bristolian' took a week to arrive by first class post arrived only after I spoke about its non-arrival over the telephone.
2. February 4th 2002 - Original and altered article about 'Angels in the Southwest' by Chair of Gloucester Branch NUJ which was censored by the Western Daily Press. I intend commenting on the way the article has been altered by Bristol United Press bosses. Post still not arrived.

The secret state makes a mockery of 'democracy'

As Secretary of the Bristol Branch of the National Union of Journalists I would like to see how the justification ANY agency might construe to justify opening and intercepting my post fits with the idea of living in a 'democratic society'. Indeed the state of some letters I recieve, particularly on sensitive topics such as union matters seems intended to intimidate me.

Though this is written specifically for the UK Postal System some ideas may be useful to those living overseas.

More than surveillance - theft, political subversion and intimidation

Letters and parcels can be stolen from the postal system so that the intended recipient is unaware they have even been sent. Some of the contents may be removed

Disruption od communications is also used by fascists to intimidate legitimate human rights activists. With the end to the so-called 'cold war' there are literally thousands of people employed by Military Intelligence and Special Branch in the UK who no longer have anything to do. There is already proof that these people are spying on human rights, trades union and environmental groups.

Three Specific Threats

1. MI5 - thousands of telephone tapping orders are in force at any one time - as the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, who signs these orders, is blind, how does he know whether the orders he's signing are justified??? See 'Defending the Realm' MI5 and the Shayler Affair, Mark Hollingsworth and Nick Feilding, Andre Deutsch, 1999 - essential reading on this subject. Relationship with police special branches (within each county constabulary) is unclear.
2. Foreign Intelligence Agencies, with agents within the British Secret State.
3. Private Corporations, including National and International Banks and Financial Institutions.

What are the signs?

If you believe your post is being interfered with in any way here's the kind of thing that might be going on:

• Letters arrive having been obviously opened (possibly resealed with an official apology explaining how a sorting machine accidentally opened the letter or it was not properly sealed in the first place)
• Letter has been expertly opened then resealed
• Letter has been 'probed', ie. a small hole has been made in the envelope and a special optical device for reading pages inserted.

What can I do?

Firstly, keep a diary of all items you know people are sending you so that you can tick items off as they arrive. Secondly, enter in the diary details of any anomalies you notice such as material missing from parcels/letters, official apologies, damages material etc. Take photographs of all violations 'probe holes' etc.

In extreme cases you may wish to put the package into a sealable plastic bag ensuring no-one touches it to be used in court as evidence.

Obtaining evidence that snailmail post is being intercepted

In his recent book 'The Big Breach' Richard Tomlinson talks about 'anti-tamper tricks' he had learnt at IONEC, the MI6 induction course. One can use one's imagination to invent such tricks bearing in mind that devices will need to be inserted through the tiny gaps in the top of a sealed envelope or envelopes may be opened then resealed.

My attempt to stop my mail being delayed/and opened

I have so far complained to my MP Dawn Primorolo who simply referred my letter to the local Royal Mail customer service centre.

Contacts:

Royal Mail Customer Services
Telephone: 0845 7740 740
Website: http://www.royalmail.com

Royal Mail Investigation Service

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